of a newly-created baronet waiting with impatience the moment when his new coat-of-arms and his recently-acquired splendour are to be displayed to the admiring world in the gorgeous pomp of a state carriage. What in the name of common sense could induce Mr. Adams and his new friend to take upon themselves the part of a second-hand mediator, and to send forth a heavy, tedious, and after all insignificant memorial to the Russian Cabinet? Was it not more consistent with the status quo of the United States, to observe a prudent silence about affairs in which Messrs. Adams and Clay had no concern? Was it not in the highest degree presumptuous in them to assure the Russian Government of their being satisfied with the present possessors of Cuba and Portorico, and that they could not on the other hand remain passive spectators of their occupation by a foreign power? We forbear mentioning that this undiplomatic manner of determining with a third party, with respect to the possession of a second, savours a little of Buonaparte, and we shall only ask the simple question, What could the administration of the United States effect with their twelve ships of the line, and twice as many frigates, if

Great Britain were to resolve upon occupying Cuba? If Adams, instead of acting with humble arrogance through his organ Mr. Middleton, on the Court of Russia, had declared in his message, that the situation of the Southern States does not admit of the forcible occupation and revolutionizing of Cuba on the part of the South American Republics, such a declaration would have borne at least a dignified character.

The Russian minister further replies in his note, "That justice, the law of nations, and the general interest in having the indisputable titles of sovereignty respected, could not allow the determinations of the mother-country, in this important case, to be prejudged or anticipated, and that it will not, therefore, be possible for his Imperial Majesty to change principles in this negotiation, nor to institute it separately; and until positive information has been received of the ulterior views of Spain in regard to her American possessions, of her decision upon the proposition of the United States, and of the opinion of her allies in relation to the same subject, that, therefore, Russia cannot give a definitive answer." We hope that Adams will take the hint from this courteous but sufficiently intelligible lesson, that

he may in future spare himself the assuming of the part of mediator, and he had better attend to his own affairs. As for Mr. Clay, the author of this specimen of Backwood diplomacy, the hint is lost upon him; any insinuation in order to make an impression upon him, must be of a coarse nature, and then Mr. Nesselrode would incur the danger of being treated in a Kentuckian, or, which is nearly the same thing, in a Cossack style. The conclusion of the Russian answer is, "She (Russia) is however in the meanwhile, pleased to hope, that the United States (becoming every day more convinced of the evils and dangers that would result to Cuba and Portorico from a change of government, and being satisfied, as Mr. Clay has said in his despatch, with the present commercial legislation of these two islands) will use their influence in defeating, as far as may be in their power, every enterprise against those islands, and in securing to the rights of his Catholic Majesty, constant and proper respect." It shews how quickly the artful statesman (Nesselrode) understands the mode of directing these two inconsiderate statesmen in the course which they are expected to pursue.

Happy would it be for the United States, if

every ill-digested and immature pretension of their administration, was attended with no worse consequences than to be laid aside. This treatment, however derogatory it might be to the national honour, would not affect its tranquillity, which is now at stake, and along with it the public peace and welfare. By the course which the administration of the United States has adopted with regard to the Congress of Panama or Mexico, they have renounced the system of neutrality heretofore adhered to-have involved themselves in difficulties which, to speak within bounds, may endanger their Union and political existence.

CHAPTER V.

The Republics of South America-Congress of MexicoPolicy of the Administration of the United States in Regard to that Congress-Its Consequences.

THE South American Republics are now in full possession of their liberty: their governments are acknowledged by the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and to a certain extent by France. Spain does not possess a square mile of ground on the American Continent. Exhausted by a long war, distracted by party spirit, impoverished beyond description, she sees the impossibility of continuing the contest any longer. She has no hope left but in the assistance of her allies, and in the counter-revolution of her former colonies. To this circumstance is to be ascribed her refusal to acknowledge those Republics, although at the peril of losing Cuba and Portorico, her only remaining possessions in the western world; and to this cause we may attribute her last effort to send out a squadron with the double destination of protecting those islands, and in